Preparing the Next Generation for Careers in Hancock County

Workforce continues to be one of the biggest challenges facing businesses today, but solving it starts long before someone submits a job application.

In this episode of Chamber Amplified from the Findlay-Hancock County Chamber of Commerce, Doug Jenkins talks with Tricia Valasek of Raise the Bar Hancock County about how local schools, employers and community partners are working together to introduce students to career opportunities, develop essential workplace skills and build the future workforce.

They discuss:

•  How YouScience helps students discover careers that match their strengths 
•  Why businesses should create a free employer profile 
•  The importance of internships and career exploration 
•  Why soft skills still matter in the age of AI 
•  The value of lifelong learning 
•  Why the conversation shouldn't be "college vs. workforce" 

Whether you're an employer looking to hire, an educator, a parent or simply interested in the future of Hancock County's workforce, this conversation offers practical insights and opportunities to get involved.

Music and sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

Why Workforce Starts Early

Doug Jenkins 0:04

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Chamber Amplified, brought to you by the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. I'm your host, Doug Jenkins. Each week here on the podcast, we're talking about the things that matter the most to local businesses and organizations, from workforce and leadership development to marketing, IT issues, and just the everyday realities of running something that serves our community. Today, my guest is Trisha Velesque with Raise the Bar Hancock County. We're going to be talking about workforce, one of the big topics that we hear about most often from chamber members, and that's regardless of industry. I think a lot of times when we talk workforce, we think of manufacturing, we think of construction, things like that, but it really doesn't matter the industry. Workforce is always a big topic of conversation around here. And while employers often talk about hiring challenges, this episode looks into that pipeline before someone ever even applies for a job and how you can get in front of them before they're even thinking about the workforce. It's not just about filling jobs today, it's about introducing students to careers that they didn't even know existed. That's a big part of the puzzle. And many businesses don't realize that they're missing opportunities to connect with future employees simply because students don't know you exist. That's a big problem. You might not think about it, but you have to put yourself out in front of them. There is a free tool to do that that you might not be aware of and you might not be taking advantage of. It's called U Science. Trisha and I will talk all about that. Also, we talk about soft skills. That continues to be at the top of employers' wish lists across industries. And we'll also tackle one of the biggest misconceptions in workforce development, and that it's not college versus trades. I hate that debate. I hate it when I see it online anytime. It's it can't be either or. It has to be what makes the most sense for each student. And Trisha and I break that down. So if you've ever wondered about what today's students actually think about work or how businesses can influence the next generation, this conversation has some insights for you. Of course, if you enjoy the podcast, don't forget to leave us a rating and review. I believe you can do that on Spotify, maybe Apple. Yeah, I'm pretty sure you can do that on Apple Podcasts as well. Make sure to share the podcast with others as well. And if you like your podcasts and video form, we're on YouTube now as well. So you can check us out there. Now let's get into it. Welcoming back to Chamber Amplified. You might be the leader in the clubhouse in Chamber Amplified appearances. Trisha Velesque with Raise the Bar Hancock County. Trisha, thanks for joining us again.

Speaker 2:29

Well, thank you for inviting me again.

Doug Jenkins 2:31

Absolutely. Well, it's a good time of the year to check in. Uh, when this podcast posts will be in August, which means kids are going back to school right around the corner, which means you have a lot going on in uh getting those kids some real world experience or letting them see what real world experience can be like. So I thought we'd kick off there. What are some of the things coming up for Raise the Bar this year?

Career Expos And Student Experiences

Speaker 2:57

Yeah, thank you for giving me this chance to share. We're really excited because every year we keep adding more events and we're making sure that students in every single one of our school districts in Hancock County are having access to these workforce development conversations and career exposure moments. And so I guess we'll start off with uh we'll have five career expos. These are for high school students, tend to be 10th through 12th grade. Each school district gets to choose three to five students to come with them for that day. We tour different workplaces, and those are centered around different career clusters, and we look at where the students are as a whole for our community, and then we pick out which clusters we feel like we need to expose them to careers to see. I could do this, this is a fit for me. I've got the aptitude, that's what my assessment's telling me. Now what do I do with it? So we're excited to do those. We have one for September, October, November, February, and March. And again, those students are hand-picked by the school districts, but they're using their youth science data to pick the students that have maybe the ability, like the mind wiring to do those types of careers, but maybe they aren't interested because they've never seen it before. Also, coming up on the first Friday of October, we do our annual Career Connections Day. That is where every eighth grader in Hancock County comes out to Owens Community College at the Findlay campus. They have an hour to basically speed date, if you will, the different employers that we have. We're currently getting those employers lined up for indoor and outdoor spots. And the students have to go around, ask them general questions about what they like about their job, what don't they like about their job, fill out a worksheet, get some cool swag, and then they have to talk about it with their teachers when they get back to school. And we also have a mock interview day that'll happen once again in May. So we need a hundred professionals in our community, could be retiree, could be a current person who's employed, but we need about a hundred people to interview students, and that's been growing, and the students are doing amazing at these interviews, but it's a nice chance for them to kind of lower their anxiety levels about like, what do I talk about in a scholarship interview? What if I've never had a job interview? And you know, we're just continuing to add as we need to, as we see the opportunity, because we want to make sure as many kids as possible have the chances to learn what they're good at, find that there's opportunity right here, and and to get exposure to it.

UScience Explained For Employers

Doug Jenkins 5:43

You mentioned U science. I want to go back to that. Uh you probably saw me like, aha, the light bulb would on because uh we've been talking about US science uh I over the years, but I think people kind of forget what it is and that it's available to their business and how it can help connect them to future workforce. So let's do a refresher on what U Science is and how area employers can get plugged into it.

Speaker 6:07

Perfect. UScience is a brain game type of test. Every student before they graduate from Hancock County will have taken this assessment at some point. Most of them are doing it in ninth grade. Sometimes we're playing catch up, depending if they've moved into the district. But regardless, by the time they graduate, they should have this assessment. It's a couple hours, it's about eight brain games. It's measuring everything from how good you are with patterns to numerical, like doing calculations really fast to how big your vocabulary is. There's no good answers, it's just truly what your brain is good at. And then it pairs it with what your interests are and it gives you a report about yourself. And that leads us to know how to guide people in the right direction. And businesses can take advantage of it by putting their profiles. They can create a free business profile in UScience. And what's awesome about that is when a student lands on, let's say, their type of business that they would be a good fit for, anyone can see that business's profile. Hancock County is not the only place using UScience. It is prolifically used throughout the state of Ohio and even outside of Ohio. If an employer has their profile in there, they will show up when that search radius geographic boundary is set to whatever we would fall into. If you're not in there, you don't exist to the employer or to the students. And so it's really important just to fill out that quick profile.

Doug Jenkins 7:43

Well, the thing I like about it, and and what we've always been told about it, is that people might hear it and think, oh, another test of personality test. What do you like? What do you don't like? And that's a small part of it, but it's the aptitude part because what they have found is kids' aptitudes once they reach high school, what you're good at doesn't really change. You're good at what you're good at, and it's good to know what that is because you're probably going to be happier at a job that you're when you're good at.

Speaker 8:12

Yeah, how many times have we been in a job where it just feels really good to be able to show off your strengths and to to have a person graduate high school and feel like confident that they could say, you know what, I am really good at this, and here's how I can use that skill in the workplace. That's just really empowering. And it's you got to mix that aptitude assessment. You got to take euscience and pair it with a personality test or what their work values are. There's a lot of different uh assessments to pair together to maybe give them a better, the best insight possible to who they are and what they work best with.

Doug Jenkins 8:48

So you've been

Gains With Teachers And Colleges

Doug Jenkins 8:49

running Raise the Bar for a while now. And what's great when you've been with an organization year after year after year is you can start to see where you're getting gains and maybe where you want to focus efforts, things like that. Where have you seen the most gains over the last few years?

Speaker 9:05

One of those would be with the teachers. Schools are always faced with having to add more content into the day, but not necessarily have the opportunity to learn that content outside of their subject area. Math teachers know math, science teachers are great at science, but now they have to start building in these career conversations. And if you've never been anything but a teacher or your spouse is something, then you probably don't know a lot about those other jobs. Allowing Raise the Bar to create opportunities for professional development days, where you know, maybe a single school district is taking their teachers for the day. We're doing that for Van Louis Schools, we've done it for Liberty Benton in Arlington, but also when they have a countywide professional development day, we can give them those types of opportunities to see the workplaces, learn a little bit more, and be completely blown away by all that our community has to offer. So that's been a huge, tremendous gain. And we've also been partnering a lot more with higher ed throughout Northwest Ohio. There are a lot of great higher ed places that students can take certificate classes, they can get a degree. We're trying to connect them back to our community because if they aren't from here, they might not know about our businesses and all that we have to offer. So we're making good, good strides with that team as well, uh, just to raise, you know, all awareness and get us all moving in the same direction for the betterment of Northwest Ohio.

Moving Past College Versus Trades

Doug Jenkins 10:35

Speaking of higher ed, you and I have had this conversation uh a few times is that the discussion when it comes to what to do after high school, should it be higher ed? Should you go directly to the workforce? A lot of times when you're on social media, which is just the greatest place to have a conversation, uh, but a lot of times you see it framed as an either or. Everybody should just go to the workforce, college is not worth it, or everybody should go to college, workforce isn't going to get where you where you need to be. And I know you and I have talked about like that's not the right way to frame it. It's a yes, and there's room for everything. And it's great to hear that the workforce organization is also talking with higher ed in the community because we need it's the mix that uh that you know it gets so polarized online when you hear people talk about it. I think you and I both agree it's the mix that really is what leads to success when it comes to workforce.

Speaker 11:27

And I think the best thought process is after high school, you're not done learning.

Doug Jenkins 11:33

Yeah.

Speaker 11:34

There's a lot of different ways to learn. And sometimes it's gonna take a degree, and sometimes it could be as quick as a certificate, but careers change so fast, especially with the introduction of technology, that you always have to be willing to learn something new. And going out into the real world with that expectation that I have to be willing to learn something new all the time. And however I get that information, it doesn't matter. That lifelong learner aspect to me will be the most valuable thing I can have.

Doug Jenkins 12:08

One of

Soft Skills In The AI Era

Doug Jenkins 12:09

the things that is great about Raise the Bar is you're able to be that connector between where the work is being done and where that future workforce is coming from. So when you talk to area businesses, whether it's manufacturers, small businesses, what have you, uh what are the things they're telling you that they need to see in the workforce going forward? Has it changed much over the years?

Speaker 12:32

No, honestly, I think over the six years that I've been doing this, it always comes back to what are considered the durable, soft employability skills. And they're just taking on new shapes and forms. Critical thinking, productivity, professionalism, communication, those have not ceased in any way to be the most important skill sets. It's just when we talk critical thinking, and maybe with um technology, it's how am I asking the right question to know I'm getting the right answer back, especially when you might be using an AI or chat cloud, whatever. And so it's how do we teach those soft employability skills, but in this new framework of how we actually do work? And I don't see that changing at all. And it's something that we're just going to have to be very diligent diligent about making sure that we're teaching it and honing it, whether you're still in K-12 or you're into higher education or even in the workplace, we still have to think about honing those skills.

Doug Jenkins 13:39

I it's I think that's a really interesting conversation because you could look at it, uh, we're you know, we still need to get these kids the soft skills, and we do, and and probably the argument is made that like back in the day kids had soft skills coming out of college but or high school. But did they? I mean, you can go back and read newspaper editorials for an entire century from each decade that the the young people in the workplace just don't want to work and they don't know how to work. Uh, and it's just it's just every decade we think that the the the latest generation doesn't know how to do it. You actually are interacting with these kids, and I would have to imagine that's not your experience of them. They're actually curious, they actually want to learn to work. It's just they're just they're wired a little differently than than those of us who grew up in the greatest decade to grow up in the 90s was.

Speaker 14:29

The 1900s, as in my kids.

Doug Jenkins 14:31

No, don't say it that way.

Speaker 14:33

As if we're, you know, Civil War era here. But yeah, they do, they have a different way of going about obtaining their information because they have known nothing other than for Gen Z, like accessing it online. It's they've never had a world where they had to use a touch-tone dial phone or you know, use the rotary phone and understand how to dial numbers. They just don't get it. And that's okay. And we have to really be appreciative that sometimes them doing it a different way is actually maybe going to be a better way.

Doug Jenkins 15:07

Yeah, I think that's a that's a great point. And just knowing that their experience is just so wildly different than than how we were as kids uh and how we learned as kids is I think half the battle there. Uh when you when you talk about those generational experiences with with area employers, how do they respond to that?

Speaker 15:29

It's a give or take. I mean, they understand there there's always limitations, there's no chicken or the egg. How are you gonna actually tackle the root causes of some of these, what we consider discrepancies and how we want people to be in the workplace? So there's we no one has a silver bullet. If we did no one, there wouldn't be any workforce issues to tackle. And sometimes it's just having those conversations so those aha moments can happen for everyone. Even employers be like, I didn't realize that's why when I get a young student, why they do it this way. Yes, we all have to like remind ourselves that the times are different. Even I have to remind myself, I'm sure you do too, but there's just different ways of learning, and we have to roll with it.

Doug Jenkins 16:21

I'm young and hip. I'm always up to date with what's going on.

Speaker 16:24

So my best.

Doug Jenkins 16:28

I always

Turning Interns Into Future Residents

Doug Jenkins 16:29

like to jump around, but you talked about the connection with area uh colleges and higher education. Uh, I know one of the areas of focus is to be being get getting interns that are here for the summer involved too. You actually just had a program about that uh here within the last week or so. If you can tell us a little bit about what that is and how that also helps connect them to the community.

Speaker 16:50

Absolutely. Interns, students that are coming to our region. If I pulled the numbers on how many individuals are enrolled at Northwest Ohio, higher ed institutions, I mean, we're talking in the tens of thousands every single year. And this is a workforce that tends to come into our community, but then maybe never stay. They leave, they don't have that connection. What we decided to do here in July was to host a summer internship intern luncheon, and we invited any intern from Hancock County area employers to come from the lunch. We had 24 employer represented. We had students from 18 different universities across Ohio. We had some from Indiana, Michigan, and Texas. We had students who went to those institutions, but they were from other states than those. And it, you know, they showed up and they saw their classmates' names on the list and they go, I didn't even know they were here in Findlay all summer. And so it gave them a chance to catch up. It also gave them a chance to meet someone new that they maybe go to school with, but they've never had a class with them, especially like big institutions like Ohio State or Cincinnati. They might be in completely different programs, so they never had the chance to meet. And then they were talking a little bit about what they liked about their internships and talking about the employers they got to work for. And the idea was to allow them to realize there's a lot of other places I could maybe work, and maybe they'll come back for their next internship, or they'll consider coming back to Findlay just for their first-time job. We really wanted to welcome them to the community, make them feel like this could be their future home, but also just to connect with each other because they're gonna need each other, and those network connections are so important in the workforce. So we're looking to do this every single semester when we have interns in the community, which means our next one we're probably looking at a late November, early December luncheon for those students.

Doug Jenkins 19:00

We'll close on this. You touched on it a little bit. You said the interns were talking, they could talk about what they liked about the internship, but also what they didn't like about the internship. And a lot of times when we talk about workforce development and career development, things like that, we focus on like, hey, do what you like, but we also are teaching kids here's something that you thought you might like, but you didn't. And how important is that to the process and learning the things that you don't actually like doing?

Speaker 19:28

I think we heard a like a little bit of that at the tables, and when the students were talking, that sometimes they just realized that a particular part of their job wasn't what they expected it to be. You can learn about it in the classroom, but when you actually see it out in the real world, it's a little bit of a I don't find that as fun, or I didn't realize it's exactly what I'd be doing all day. The employers that have brought their interns into big meetings where they're meeting with everyone, they're part of the brainstorming team, they are learning about all aspects of the workplace, those interns just raved and raved about how great their experiences were. And I think overall, although you might hear kids say, I didn't really expect it to be like that, they all enjoyed being here in Findlay and with their employers, and they were all saying, I would come back, or hey, you should come here next time. And it just builds a great sense of positivity that our community undoubtedly deserves.

How To Get Involved Locally

Doug Jenkins 20:35

That's great to hear. If people uh are interested in learning more about Raise the Bar, maybe want to get their business involved with Raise the Bar, uh, what's the best way to do that?

Speaker 20:45

The best way is to go to our newly launched website. We still are at raisethebarhancock.org, but we have had a complete revitalization of the website. We are fulfilling part of our mission, which is to connect stakeholders for workforce excellence through that website because it has different pathways depending on who you are accessing it. There's a whole part of that website designated for you as an employer. You can learn all of the different ways in which to get connected with the workforce, especially starting from what we call cradle to career. We also include a lot of resources, um, programs that employers can take advantage of to maybe help pay for some of these uh employee development costs. And then there's also a whole part on there for the students, the career seekers, to use to learn about themselves, go through the process of the career finding journey in a theoretical foundation, but they will land on information specific to Hancock County, which shows some of our employers, local data, setting expectations for the careers that are here and projected to be growing over the next five years. So, you know, we really say get connected to our website because we are pointing all Hancock County middle schoolers to this website as they go through their new middle school career connections class starting this fall. And it's also just something that we're heavily promoting among community agencies with their job seekers, higher ed for their students. So if you want to get connected and you want to be featured on that website, then let me know and take advantage of that.

Doug Jenkins 22:30

All good things here, Tricia. Thank you for taking part again. Again, I think the only person who's been on Chamber Amplified more than you is me. Uh so always appreciate the update from Raise the Bar. Thanks for joining us today.

Speaker 22:44

Thank you, Doug.

Doug Jenkins 22:45

A

Key Takeaways And Closing

Doug Jenkins 22:46

few key takeaways from our conversation with Trisha today. Workforce development, not something that the schools can solve by themselves. It takes employers, educators, higher education, and community organizations all working together to really work on all aspects of that equation. The biggest takeaway for me personally is that employers are still asking for many of the same things that they've always wanted: communication, professionalism, critical thinking, and curiosity. And don't discount curiosity. I think that might be the top one I would look for. Technology might be changing how we work, but those skills remain incredibly valuable. And if your business hasn't created its free UScience employer profile, this episode a good reminder that you're invisible to many of the area students who are out there searching for jobs. If you're not there, we'll put a link in the show notes on how you can sign up for that. Of course, there are plenty of ways for businesses to get involved beyond just hiring, taking part in career expos, mock interviews, hosting interns, things like that, really hosting interns and giving that day-to-day example of what you do at your place can be a big benefit down the road, not just to you, but also to people trying to figure out what they want to do with their career. And that'll do it for another edition of Chamber Amplifying. This is a free podcast available to the community, made possible by the investment of our members here at the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. If you're looking at ways to get your business involved in the community, a lot of times the chamber is the best place to start. And if you'd like more information on that, just send me an email, djenkins at finleyhancockchamber.com, and we can talk about how an investment in the chamber not only helps your business, but the business community as a whole. Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next time on Chamber Amplified from the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce.